Alleged Killer Who Shot His Girlfriend and Fled to Mexico Brought Back to US to Face Charges

Julio Cesar Rocha (City of Chino Police Department) and Thalia Flores (Thalia Flores/gofundme)

A California man who allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend in broad daylight before fleeing was arrested in Mexico and brought back to the United States on April 24 to face murder charges.

Thalia Flores, 25, was in a car in the parking lot of a discount store in Chino with another unidentified male when Julio Cesar Rocha, 25, allegedly shot both of them at about 2:43 p.m. on March 21, the City of Chino Police Department said in a statement on Facebook.

A picture of Thalia Flores. (Thalia Flores/gofundme)

The accompanying male suffered non-life threatening injuries and walked to a nearby hospital and is recovering. His name has not been released.

Rocha fled the scene before the police arrived. “He is considered armed and dangerous,” police said in the statement.

The police had sought public help in apprehending Rocha, and Chino police Lt. Bill Covington told KTLA that the shooting was witnessed by many people.

“Julio Rocha was located in Mexico and subsequently booked at the West Valley Detention Center last night,” the police said in another Facebook post.

A resident of Montclair, Rocha was arrested south of the border and was returned to San Bernardino County to face charges of murder and attempted to murder.

The formal arrest took place on Wednesday after he arrived at LAX, county booking records show, according to KTLA.

Thalia Flores’s Relationship With Julio Cesar Rocha

Flores and Rocha were in a relationship for seven years and separated just two months before he shot her.

Flores’s sister, Berenice Flores, told the Daily Bulletin in a telephone interview that their relationship was abusive and her sister lived in constant fear.

“He said himself so many times to other people, ‘If I can’t have her, no one will.’ ”Berenice Flores told Daily Bulletin.

Berenice said after the couple broke up, Rocha was leaving letters for Flores and she feared that if she ended the relationship he would hurt her family.

“He was a creep. He wouldn’t respect the fact that she wanted to leave him,” said Berenice.

She described Flores was a fun-loving and joyous person. “I want my sister’s story to be heard. I want other girls or men or kids in violent relationships to look for help and not be scared,” she said.

Domestic Violence in the United States

More than 12 million people in the United States victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner—24 people per minute, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

“1 in 4 women (24.3 percent) and 1 in 7 men (13.8 percent) aged 18 and older in the United States have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime,” it reported.